IPOD
RADIO
Francois Ozon
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Jun 16, 2005
Francois Ozon directed 2003’s acclaimed hit Swimming Pool. His latest film is 5x2 it is about a young couple Gilles and Marion in their 30's, filmed in five crucial parts of their life. The backwards timeline shows how their marriage fell apart, and creates nostalgia as we discover the happiness of the early days.
Check out the official site of 5x2
Daniel Robert Epstein: What made you decide to do this kind of unique movie and give it a title that kind of says that its an experiment?
Francois Ozon: It is an experiment. I wanted to try to tell a very centered story that would give a kind of distance on this type of story to give you the opportunity to think about your own life and your own experience with couples. I don’t have the answer about how to succeed as a couple, I just have questions. I thought that the best way to tell the story would be to put all these questions in the film. But you’ll have to find the answers yourself.
DRE:
What was more interesting to film, the happy scenes or the sad scenes?
FO:
It was not difficult to do the dramatic scenes because I like to work with actors who have fun and I don’t want them to suffer. So it’s just a game we are playing. Doing the sex scenes for example goes very fast, the actors usually don’t like doing them so they are good on the first shot.
DRE:
What made you decide to have an American come in and cause a little trouble on the wedding day?
FO:
I wanted an American man because I wanted someone who is just there for a night. We know they won’t have a real relationship together, just sex for a night. I think it’s better to have a sex night with an American.
DRE:
Did you shoot the film in order?
FO:
No, the chronology was done in the reverse. The challenge of the film was to start with the end of the story and try to find during the shooting what was the beginning of the story.
DRE:
Was this relationship was just doomed from the start?
FO:
No, I think they are really in love. I think if you believe in the story that there is a kind of small miracle between them. The problem of the relationship is that it started with the man is stuck in a relationship with a woman and so he repeats the same kind of relationship with his new woman, Marion.
DRE:
Is the film autobiographical at all?
FO:
No, it’s not autobiographical because I have never been involved and I don’t have a child. I think there are many feelings I know and I try to be very personal but it’s not very autobiographical.
DRE:
How easy is it for you to direct sex scenes?
FO:
I love that. It’s very exciting. I think that its very important to have sex scenes because when the actors are naked, they don’t play anymore. They are only themselves and you can see their bodies. In the film it is very important to see the evolution of the body because the film takes place during five years and you can see the body in the hotel after the divorce of Marion and Gilles is not the same at the end of the film when they met on the beach.
DRE:
Is the film pessimistic about relationships?
FO:
No, it’s not pessimistic it’s just risky. I think you have to know when you begin love it won’t be endless. It will stop one day, it will end and I think it’s better to know that at the beginning so you have more pleasure when you have it. It’s just realist.
DRE:
How was it writing with your writing partner Emmanuèle Bernheim?
FO:
She helped me for the second part of the film with the wedding night and for the meeting on the beach. She didn’t write, we just talked script.
DRE:
Does that give you a better perspective on women?
FO:
She helped me to find exactly what I want to tell. She helped me for the female character and I ask her many things. It’s a lot of discussion that helped me write the script.
DRE:
Would people understand what the title means if you didn’t tell them in the trailer or something like that?
FO:
Yes, I think so because the situations are very simple. Everyone can identify with the birth of a baby and the wedding night, it’s very common situation I think.
DRE:
But how would people know what five times two means unless they‘re told?
FO:
It’s not important to know that. I like to see mysterious titles.
DRE:
What did you think of Marina de Van’s film In My Skin?
FO:
I loved it. I thought it was very good film, very deep and very close to her and I was very touched by the film.
DRE:
Did she talk with you about it at all?
FO:
No, I just saw the editing of the film.
DRE:
Will you be working with her again?
FO:
I hope so. She has a new project.
DRE:
What are you working on now?
FO:
I have just finished a new film called Le Temps Qui Reste which was presented in Cannes and I think it will be released next year in America.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Francois Ozon directed 2003’s acclaimed hit Swimming Pool. His latest film is 5x2 it is about a young couple Gilles and Marion in their 30's, filmed in five crucial parts of their life. The backwards timeline shows how their marriage fell apart, and creates nostalgia as we discover the happiness of the early days.
Check out the official site of 5x2
Daniel Robert Epstein: What made you decide to do this kind of unique movie and give it a title that kind of says that its an experiment?
Francois Ozon: It is an experiment. I wanted to try to tell a very centered story that would give a kind of distance on this type of story to give you the opportunity to think about your own life and your own experience with couples. I don’t have the answer about how to succeed as a couple, I just have questions. I thought that the best way to tell the story would be to put all these questions in the film. But you’ll have to find the answers yourself.
DRE:
What was more interesting to film, the happy scenes or the sad scenes?
FO:
It was not difficult to do the dramatic scenes because I like to work with actors who have fun and I don’t want them to suffer. So it’s just a game we are playing. Doing the sex scenes for example goes very fast, the actors usually don’t like doing them so they are good on the first shot.
DRE:
What made you decide to have an American come in and cause a little trouble on the wedding day?
FO:
I wanted an American man because I wanted someone who is just there for a night. We know they won’t have a real relationship together, just sex for a night. I think it’s better to have a sex night with an American.
DRE:
Did you shoot the film in order?
FO:
No, the chronology was done in the reverse. The challenge of the film was to start with the end of the story and try to find during the shooting what was the beginning of the story.
DRE:
Was this relationship was just doomed from the start?
FO:
No, I think they are really in love. I think if you believe in the story that there is a kind of small miracle between them. The problem of the relationship is that it started with the man is stuck in a relationship with a woman and so he repeats the same kind of relationship with his new woman, Marion.
DRE:
Is the film autobiographical at all?
FO:
No, it’s not autobiographical because I have never been involved and I don’t have a child. I think there are many feelings I know and I try to be very personal but it’s not very autobiographical.
DRE:
How easy is it for you to direct sex scenes?
FO:
I love that. It’s very exciting. I think that its very important to have sex scenes because when the actors are naked, they don’t play anymore. They are only themselves and you can see their bodies. In the film it is very important to see the evolution of the body because the film takes place during five years and you can see the body in the hotel after the divorce of Marion and Gilles is not the same at the end of the film when they met on the beach.
DRE:
Is the film pessimistic about relationships?
FO:
No, it’s not pessimistic it’s just risky. I think you have to know when you begin love it won’t be endless. It will stop one day, it will end and I think it’s better to know that at the beginning so you have more pleasure when you have it. It’s just realist.
DRE:
How was it writing with your writing partner Emmanuèle Bernheim?
FO:
She helped me for the second part of the film with the wedding night and for the meeting on the beach. She didn’t write, we just talked script.
DRE:
Does that give you a better perspective on women?
FO:
She helped me to find exactly what I want to tell. She helped me for the female character and I ask her many things. It’s a lot of discussion that helped me write the script.
DRE:
Would people understand what the title means if you didn’t tell them in the trailer or something like that?
FO:
Yes, I think so because the situations are very simple. Everyone can identify with the birth of a baby and the wedding night, it’s very common situation I think.
DRE:
But how would people know what five times two means unless they‘re told?
FO:
It’s not important to know that. I like to see mysterious titles.
DRE:
What did you think of Marina de Van’s film In My Skin?
FO:
I loved it. I thought it was very good film, very deep and very close to her and I was very touched by the film.
DRE:
Did she talk with you about it at all?
FO:
No, I just saw the editing of the film.
DRE:
Will you be working with her again?
FO:
I hope so. She has a new project.
DRE:
What are you working on now?
FO:
I have just finished a new film called Le Temps Qui Reste which was presented in Cannes and I think it will be released next year in America.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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